Stigma Free Vet Zone
Veterans discuss stigma and how it affected readjustment
Episodes
June 2, 2023 • 28 mins
Eric Chandler is the author of Kekekabic (Finishing Line Press, 2022) and Hugging This Rock (Middle West Press, 2017). His writing has appeared in Northern Wilds, Grey Sparrow Journal, The Talking Stick, Sleet Magazine, O-Dark-Thirty, Line of Advance, Collateral, The Deadly Writers Patrol, PANK, The Wrath-Bearing Tree, Consequence Magazine, and Columbia Journal. Chandler was nominated […]
Mark as Played
May 26, 2023 • 27 mins
Vietnam veteran Doug Bradley is an expert on the way music affects service personnel during their active duty tours, during their transitions to civilian life, and beyond. He and UW-Madison Professor Craig Werner — with whom Doug taught a Vietnam War class at the university — interviewed about 300 Vietnam veterans to hear music-related stories, which they […]
Mark as Played
May 19, 2023 • 24 mins
Chris Pettis is executive director of The Highground Veterans’ Memorial Park near Neillsville, WI. Chris discusses how veterans and their families stories of transition and healing at The Highground, and how he and The Highground’s staff and volunteers handle the emotions of those stories. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps at age 17 and in 2014 […]
Mark as Played
May 12, 2023 • 25 mins
Brian Jopek, reporter and news director at a newspaper in Minocqua, Wisconsin, is a veteran of the war in Iraq. His son, Ryan David Jopek, followed Brian into the Wisconsin National Guard and ultimately also was deployed to Iraq. Ryan David was killed in action in the same area where his father had served, making […]
Mark as Played
May 5, 2023 • 30 mins
Veteran Pam Graham of Osseo, Wisconsin, understands the importance of family in the world of military veterans. She also knows the importance of veterans’ military families, along with the need for intergenerational communications between veterans. The daughter of two Marines, Pam enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1986 and reached the rank of E-7 – […]
Mark as Played
April 14, 2023 • 25 mins
Bonnie Pettis is the daughter of a Navy Vietnam Veteran, a Marine Veteran sister, wife (of 22 years), mother and mother-in-law. She served the family home-front with an infant and a toddler for 2 of the 3 career combat tours her husband experience and remained state side during his one year duty station in Okinawa. […]
Mark as Played
August 26, 2022 • 64 mins
Dawn Strobel grew up in Milwaukee and Cedarburg, WI. Her parents divorced when she was young. Dawns father is a Vietnam veteran who never spoke of his military experience and who Dawn did not have much interaction with while growing up. She would come to know him later in life. Dawn’s mother remarried and yet […]
Mark as Played
August 12, 2022 • 41 mins
Former Army medic Chris Swift has shared several podcasts with us. You will find his experiences leading up to this Friday August 12 episode on the podcast episode page of our webpage. Today we continue Chris’ transition experiences after his 55 month deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan serving as a combat medic. After years of […]
Mark as Played
Bob Nevin is a native of Queens in New York. At an early age Bob, his parents and family moved to UpState New York. Bob’s mom was home raising the family while his dad, a WWII veteran of the war in the South Pacific, built his career in aviation. Bob’s dream of a life in aviation […]
Mark as Played
Former Tech Sergeant Rebecca Peasley is a Desert Storm Veteran. Having served with the Army National Guard, the Active Guard Reserve and Air National Guard Rebecca entered United States military service at the age of 30. Rebecca joined the military to better understand her husdband, a decorated combat infantry Vietnam veteran and his punishing challenges […]
Mark as Played
Jason Katchenago left his tribal home looking for hope, purpose and work. After joining the United States Army he went on to serve tours in reconnaissance both in Iraq and Afghanistan. After leaving the military Jason would experience difficult and punishing challenges in readjustment to civilian life. Jason explains the healing methods that have significantly […]
Mark as Played
June 17, 2022 • 51 mins
Nancy Smith-Watson is an actor, a trauma informed somatic bodyworker and co-founder/director of Feast of Crispian (FoC). Ms. Smith-Watson has a BA in Drama from the University of Washington and did her professional training at Circle in the Square professional conservatory in New York City. While working as a professional actor, Ms. Smith-Watson also trained […]
Mark as Played
June 3, 2022 • 50 mins
Scott Schultz is a Marine Corps veteran who lives on a small farm near Osseo — in west-central Wisconsin’s northern Driftless Area. He retired last year from a long career in print and broadcast journalism. Twenty-one years ago, Scott and his wife, Dee, founded the educational nonprofit organization, The Heartbeat Center for Writing, Literacy and […]
Mark as Played
May 20, 2022 • 51 mins
Born and raised in Mississippi, Charlie Walton enlisted in the United States Marine Corp in 1968 and trained as an infantryman. He witnessed his first war casualty before his feet even touched the ground in Vietnam when the man in front of him on the jet’s stairway was shot and killed by a sniper. Despite […]
Mark as Played
Today on the Stigma Free Zone podcast, we learn more about how those who have experienced trauma and rage, are discovering freedom from pain and turmoil thanks to their willingness to surrender. Jon Christensen grew up in Racine, Wisconsin. He left school after two years at a small college in Nebraska to enlist […]
Mark as Played
April 22, 2022 • 43 mins
Jennifer Pankowski grew up in Milwaukee. She proudly served in the Wisconsin Army National Guard from 1992-1998, and was named Soldier of the Year for her battalion in 1994. The daughter of a Marine Vietnam Veteran, a loving mother and a supportive family. She also has several other family members who served in the military. […]
Mark as Played
April 8, 2022 • 31 mins
Dr. Michael Dailey is the co-founder of the Infectious Disease Society of Georgia and Co-President of the Infectious Disease Society of America, a foundation on a mission to reduce the burdens of infectious diseases worldwide.He is Board Certified in Infectious Disease and Internal Medicine, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and has professional […]
Mark as Played
March 25, 2022 • 55 mins
Randy Zemel calls himself a “D-minus” student who had no interest in college. After graduating from his Chicago area high school, he enlisted in the Marines in 1965. He served in Vietnam from 1966-’68 and left the service in 1969 as a sergeant. Randy thought little about his Vietnam service after he returned home. Instead, […]
Mark as Played
March 18, 2022 • 35 mins
Mark was born and raised in central Wisconsin to a large family. Mark is the eldest male child of 14 total siblings – 8 boys and 6 girls. Mark graduated from Necedah High School in 1998 and joined the Marines in 1999 where he served 8 years of active duty and achieved the rank of […]
Mark as Played
Mark was born and raised in central Wisconsin to a large family. Mark is the eldest male child of 14 total siblings – 8 boys and 6 girls. Mark graduated from Necedah High School in 1998 and joined the Marines in 1999 where he served 8 years of active duty and achieved the rank of […]
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.
In order to tell the story of a crime, you have to turn back time. Every season, Investigative journalist Delia D'Ambra digs deep into a mind-bending mystery with the hopes of reigniting interest in a decades old homicide case.
It’s a lighthearted nightmare in here, weirdos! Morbid is a true crime, creepy history and all things spooky podcast hosted by an autopsy technician and a hairstylist. Join us for a heavy dose of research with a dash of comedy thrown in for flavor.
Unforgettable true crime mysteries, exclusive newsmaker interviews, hard-hitting investigative reports and in-depth coverage of high profile stories.